The Silent Crisis: Including Latinos and Why It Matters
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The Silent Crisis: Including Latinos and Why It Matters Representation in Executive Positions, Boards, and Commissions in the City Governments of Boston, Chelsea, and Somerville Miren Uriarte, James Jennings, and Jen Douglas 1 Prepared for the Greater Boston Latino Network June 2014 The Silent Crisis: Including Latinos and Why It Matters Representation in Executive Positions, Boards, and Commissions in the City Governments of Boston, Chelsea, and Somerville Table of Contents Network Statement ......................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................5 Executive Summary ......................................................................................... 6 I. Introduction ...............................................................................................10 Why Does Representation Matter? ............................................................11 II. The Study ...................................................................................................14 III. Representation in Executive Positions and on Boards and Commissions in the Governments of Boston, Chelsea, and Somerville ................................16 Boston ........................................................................................................17 Latino Representation in City Government in Boston ..................................21 Chelsea ......................................................................................................33 Latino Representation in City Government in Chelsea ................................37 Somerville ..................................................................................................43 Latino Representation in City Government in Somerville ..............................47 IV. From Inclusion To Active Representation ..................................................51 V. Conclusions And Recommendations ...........................................................54 Specific Recommendations for Municipalities ...........................................56 Specific Recommendations for Communities and Constituencies .............57 Works Cited ....................................................................................................58 Appendices 1–7 ...............................................................................................60 About The Authors .........................................................................................78 2 3 About the Greater Boston Latino Network Acknowledgments The Greater Boston Latino Network (GBLN) is a collective effort of Latino-led community-based The authors wish to thank the members of the Research Committee of the Greater Boston Latino organizations in Boston, Chelsea, and Somerville working in partnership to address historical under- Network for their guidance and feedback on all aspects of the project. Thanks also go to the staff of agencies representation of Latinos in leadership roles across the cities of Boston, Chelsea, Somerville, and the in each of the cities who addressed our questions and clarified the available information. We finally would Commonwealth of Massachusetts. like to thank Jim O’Brien, our editor. Our mission is to promote Latino/a leadership in decision-making positions at the local and state level–from city halls and local boards and commissions to state agencies —and to increase funding and resources to build the capacity for Latino-led organizations in Massachusetts. We advocate for policies and initiatives that will advance and benefit the Latino community in Massachusetts. Members of the Greater Boston Latino Network are: • Centro Latino • La Alianza Hispana • Centro Presente • Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts • Chelsea Collaborative • Oiste? • East Boston Ecumenical Community Council • Sociedad Latina • Hyde Square Task Force • South Boston en Acción • IBA—Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción As part of this collective effort, the GBLN commissioned a study to analyze the Latino pres- ence in decision-making at the municipal level. The Silent Crisis: Including Latinos and Why It Matters is the report that resulted from the study and it portrays the current lack of Latinos in leadership positions in three cities: Boston, Chelsea, and Somerville. We acknowledge that this shortage is not unique to the current city administrations—it has been a historical problem. The intention of this report is to show the state of Latinos in decision-making positions in city government. It is intended to spark dialogue with these three cities and collaboratively work in finding solutions for dealing with the existing challenge of the under- representation of Latinos/as in positions of leadership. We think that this report should be taken as an opportunity to begin including Latinos in City Halls. GBLN is looking forward to working with the three cities in finding pro-active solutions. We know that this complex problem will not be solved overnight but we are confident that in partnership we can address it and solve it. This study was conducted by Prof. Miren Uriarte, Prof. Jim Jennings, and Jen Douglas with support from the Barr Foundation. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Barr Foundation. 4 5 The Silent Crisis: In the case of Boston, home to the largest total number of Latinos in Massachusetts (107,917 in Including Latinos and Why It Matters 2010), the report documents a definite and measurable under-representation of Latinos. The Mayor’s cabinet includes five senior members of the Mayor’s staff, none of whom are Latino, and 10 chiefs, only one of whom Representation in Executive Positions, Boards, and Commissions is Latino. Overall, although Latinos are 17.5% of the population of Boston, they hold just 7.5% of executive in the City Governments of Boston, Chelsea, and Somerville positions in city government and occupy only 7.1% of seats on city boards and commissions. Miren Uriarte, James Jennings, and Jen Douglas In Chelsea, one of the two majority-Latino cities in Massachusetts, Latinos currently compose over 60% of the population, with substantial growth (by 28.8%) of their population share since 2000. However, Executive Summary Chelsea’s overwhelmingly Latino population is not yet reflected in the make-up of the city’s government. Latinos represent 14.3% of the appointments to executive positions in city government and 10.9% of the The Silent Crisis: Involving Latinos in Decision-Making & Why Latino Representation Matters provides appointments to boards and commissions in the city. Although the Latino representation in executive a measure of the economic, social, and political inclusion of Latinos at mid-decade in three cities of positions in Chelsea is almost twice that found in Boston, the gap between the proportion in executive the Commonwealth where about one fourth of the state’s Latino population lives. Often wrongly positions and the proportion of Latinos in the population of the city is much wider in Chelsea, signaling a referred to as a “new population,” Latinos have been present in Massachusetts since the end of the stronger exclusion at this level than was observed in Boston. 19th century, arriving in large numbers beginning in the 1960s and 1970s and growing to nearly Somerville’s Latino population is smaller than that of the other two cities (at 10.6% of the total 630,000 persons (9.6% of the population) by 2010. That same year, they accounted for 62.1% of the population) and more recently settled, reaching significant numbers in the 1980s as Somerville became population of Chelsea, 17.5% of the population of Boston, and 10.6% of the population of Somerville. a “sanctuary city” for refugees from the wars in Central America. In Somerville, the report documents a definite and measurable under-representation of Latinos: there is a total absence of Latinos in executive The report focuses on reflective representation, that is, the type of representation that seeks to positions and minimal (1.7%) representation of Latinos as members of boards and commissions in reflect the demography of a certain group or population. It defines representation of Latinos in executive city government. positions in city government and among members of boards and commissions in relation to the representation of Latinos in the overall population of the cities. It identifies under-representation when the level of Inclusive Government Is Better Government representation in government bodies fall below the proportion of Latinos in the population of each city. The While the Latino population in each of these cities is distinct in size, region of origin, and history of report utilizes census data to describe the population of each city; each city’s publicly available data on arrival, by examining these municipalities through the lens of Latino representation we reveal a feature shared specific executive positions and boards and commissions; and interviews conducted with government in common by all three: the characteristics of those who govern and those who are governed differ. The officials in the cities. literature on representation suggests that inclusion matters. Representative bureaucracies are more likely to pursue the changes to policies, programs, and practices that are necessary to remedy inequitable Representation of Latinos in the Population and on Executive Positions and Boards and outcomes